Donna Leon has won heaps of critical praise and legions of fans for her bestselling mystery series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, one of contemporary crime fiction’s most beloved characters. With The Jewels of Paradise, Leon takes readers beyond the world of the Venetian Questura in her first stand-alone novel.

Caterina Pellegrini is a native Venetian, and like so many of them, she’s had to leave home to pursue her career elsewhere, mostly abroad. With a doctorate in baroque opera from Vienna, she lands in Birmingham, England, as a research fellow and assistant professor. Birmingham, however, is no Venice, so when she gets word of a position back home, Caterina jumps at the opportunity. The job is an unusual one. After nearly three centuries, two locked trunks, believed to contain the papers of a once-famous, now largely forgotten baroque composer, have been discovered. The composer was deeply connected in religious and political circles, but he died childless, and now two Venetian men, descendants of his cousins, each claim inheritance. With rumors of a treasure, they aren’t about to share the possible fortune.

Caterina has been hired to attend the opening of the trunks and examine any enclosed papers to discover the “testamentary disposition” of the composer. But when her research takes her in unexpected directions and a silent man follows her through the streets, she begins to wonder just what secrets these trunks may hold. The Jewels of Paradise is a superb novel, a gripping tale of intrigue, music, history, and greed.

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Quotes & Awards

“The Jewels of Paradise is as much a tale about a young woman wising up and learning to fight more effectively for her own happiness as it is a mystery.”

Washington Post

“From a masterful writer, The Jewels of Paradise is a superb novel, a grip­ping tale of intrigue, music, history, and greed.”

Atlantic Monthly Press

Cassandra Campbell has a melodic voice and fine, fluid
Italian, both important attributes for the narrator of Donna Leon’s
first stand-alone mystery. Campbell’s pacing honors the
novel’s andante tempo…This is a literary departure for Donna Leon, which
will please some, but not all, of her fans.

AudioFile

“Leon spread[s] her wings, and she writes persuasively about music.”

Library Journal

“Fascinating…it boasts the same sensitivity to
human behavior that distinguishes her Guido Brunetti series.”

Booklist

A New York Times Bestseller

Listener Opinions

Nayla | 9/27/2013

" Start was interesting the middle was boring but the last part was good "

Charles | 9/6/2013

" I enjoyed this one. It's been a long time since I read it, though. I should give it a reread. "

Libby | 1/12/2013

" Read more than once, I think, in junior high. Reread 25 November 2011. "

Chris | 1/2/2013

" Very interesting, if talky, exploration of a seemingly tyrannical world ruled by religion. It does an excellent job of setting up the society only to turn everything you thought about it on its head. Well worth the read. "

Other Titles by Donna Leon:

About the Author

Donna Leon has lived in Venice
for thirty years and previously lived in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and
China, where she worked as a teacher. Her novels featuring Commissario Brunetti
have all been highly acclaimed, including Friends
in High Places, which won the CWA Silver Dagger for Fiction.

About the Narrator

Cassandra Campbell, Audie Award–nominated narrator and winner of thirty-nine Earphones Awards, has performed in regional theaters across the country and in several off-Broadway shows at the Public Theater and the Mint Theater. In addition to narrating audiobooks, acting, and directing, she is a commercial and documentary voice-over artist.

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